SynthesisInterdisciplinary cardiovascular and thoracic surgery2025
Surgical Ablation by a Right Mini-thoracotomy Versus a Median Sternotomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies.
Synthesis in Interdisciplinary cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Early outcomes and resource utilization across contemporary transcatheter and surgical valve interventions: a single-center observational study.BMC research notes · 2026Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesA minimally invasive approach by a right mini-thoracotomy has been developed for surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation. However, the efficacy and safety compared to a median sternotomy remains unclear.
methodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for eligible studies. Meta-analysis was performed for primary (recurrence of atrial tachyarrhythmias at 1 and 2 years) and secondary (hospital and ICU stay, adverse events, 30-day mortality, cardiopulmonary bypass, and aortic cross-clamp time) end-points. We compared end-points using risk ratio (RR) for binary outcomes and mean difference (MD) for continuous ones. We calculated 95% confidence intervals (CI) and used the random-effects model for all outcomes. We performed subgroup analysis for the main outcome based on lesion set, energy source, type of surgery, and propensity score matching.
resultsWe included 12 observational studies (n = 3122). No difference was found for the primary outcome at 1 (RR 0.8; [95% CI]: 0.62-1.03; P = 0.08) and 2 years (RR 0.9; [95% CI]: 0.74-1.13; P = 0.4). The thoracotomy group had lower complications (RR 0.72; [95% CI]: 0.55-0.97; P = 0.016), 30-day mortality (OR 0.26; [95% CI]: 0.10-0.70; P = 0.007), hospital stay (MD -5.35; [95% CI]: -7.94 to 2.77; P < 0.001), and ICU stay (MD -2.21; [95% CI]: -3.02 to 1.40; P < 0.001). Cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic clamping time were significantly higher in the thoracotomy group.
conclusionsThis meta-analysis found that surgical ablation by a mini-thoracotomy might achieve similar rhythm control to a median sternotomy while possibly improving safety and promoting faster recovery. However, conclusions are limited by the observational nature of the evidence and randomized trials are warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.